A 500-megawatt battery storage project by energy giant NextEra is being fast-tracked through a Livingston Parish review. It would help support an unidentified commercial development with unusually large electricity needs.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, announced Sept. 8 that Steamboat Energy Storage, a project proposed by NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, was among the latest projects selected for its Expedited Resource Addition Study, or ERAS, program. MISO said the project would provide 500 MW of new battery storage in Louisiana.
More detailed MISO records place Steamboat in Livingston Parish and identify Entergy Louisiana as the transmission owner. The project is proposed as a four-hour battery storage system with a targeted June 30, 2028, in-service date. Most notably, MISO’s records say Steamboat would support the new, incremental load of a “commercial entity” requiring between 330 and 360 MW of capacity. The commercial entity is not identified.
The full summary of the project in MISO’s records reads as follows:
“Steamboat Energy Storage is a 500 MW, 4-hour battery energy storage system in Livingston Parish, LA interconnecting into Entergy’s Willow Glen to Coly 500kV system. The project is in MISO Zone 9, within the transmission and generation constrained Amite South load pocket. The project will support the new, incremental load of a commercial entity in need of 330-360 MW of capacity, and this 500 MW storage project will directly serve a portion of the long-term resource adequacy needs of the load.”
That description originated with NextEra. MISO’s guidance for the ERAS program says applicants are required to provide a nonconfidential summary describing the need their project is intended to meet, information that MISO then makes public.
The scale of the commercial load is significant. For context, a conventional data center may draw around 10-25 MW, while a hyperscale, AI-focused data center can require 100 MW or more, according to the International Energy Agency.
MISO’s ERAS program accelerates the study of power generation and storage projects necessary to meet near-term electricity demand needs. The program is designed to move qualifying projects from study to a Generation Interconnection Agreement, or GIA, in three months.
Since the launch of the program in 2025, 58 projects have been or will be studied. Thirty-eight projects have advanced to completed GIAs, and an additional five are nearing completion. The program is capped at 68 projects and will sunset in 2027.
Steamboat’s selection for the program comes as rumors swirl about a data center coming to Livingston Parish. Much of the speculation has focused on a 691-acre tract on Buddy Ellis Road near Walker that was rezoned for heavy industrial use in November 2025.
Livingston Parish President Randy Delatte said earlier this month that, as of now, there are no plans for a data center in the parish, though he did make note of the economic benefits Meta’s data center has brought to Richland Parish.
It remains unclear who the commercial customer is, where in Livingston Parish that customer plans to locate and whether the Steamboat project is connected to the data center speculation.
Entergy Louisiana declined to comment. Delatte and NextEra had not responded to requests for comment as of this afternoon’s publication deadline.
